It's a Knockout
1 9 6 6 - 1 9 8 2 (UK)
1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 1 (UK)
 "Eight
lovely dollybirds, eight wobbly jellies and eight Minis"
It's A Knockout was once described as 'a competition to perform the pointless in the
quickest possible time'.
The origin of this TV Olympiad of inter-town rivalry dates back to a
1954 BBC TV program called Top Town which presented a series of
amateur and semi-professional variety performers from different cities
in Britain.
It's a Knockout presented a similar format but this time with
amateur athletic teams in crazy costumes competing in absurd games.
Commentators were Eddie Waring, David Vine and Stuart Hall.
The
program was one of the BBC's most popular shows in the 1970s, attracting
up to 19 million viewers who watched teams get muddy while tackling
greasy poles, log-rolling and bungee runs - "and Scunthorpe are
going to play their joker on this one" . . .
The games rarely made any sense and Hall's explanations usually only
made matters worse. They certainly couldn't have been designed to help
either participant or viewer: "You've got a guy here who's going to
go up a slope with a balloon and he's going to give it to his mate and
you've got to go like dynamite".
 The
best games, though, always involved water or foam . . .
An international version of the game for European countries started
in 1967 and was called Jeux Sans Frontieres.
In 1987 there were adverse comments about loss of dignity when the
three youngest of the Queen's children attempted to sound a populist
note by appearing in a special It's A Knockout program for
charity.
Royal guests stormed out of press meetings when the questioning
became hostile and the experiment was not repeated.
Eddie Waring died in 1986.
The series was revived in 1999, but did not command the same clout as
the original - partly because it was shown on Channel 5, but mostly
because it was hosted by Keith Chegwin who, clearly, was no Stuart Hall.
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